The commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command ordered the amphibious assault ship the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD-51) to get underway from their Virginia homeports to support post-Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, the Navy said Wednesday.
Adm. Phil Davidson said the ships were set to leave from their homeports in Norfolk, Va., on Aug. 31. The Kearsarge planned to depart with Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Naval Station Norfolk while the Oak Hill was set to depart from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.
The ships can provide medical support, maritime civil affairs, maritime security, expeditionary logistics support, medium and heavy lift air support, and other capabilities as they support federal, state, and local authorities in southeast Texas.
The Navy noted “State and local agencies are in the lead for this response effort. We recognize recovery from this catastrophic disaster will be a long-term effort. We are leaning forward to fully support FEMA and Texas with DoD assistance as requested.”
This comes days after the Air National Guard planned to deploy a mix of fixed-wing and rotary-wing surveillance aircraft to help search for hurricane victims, particularly the fixed-wing Fairchild RC-26 over Houston (Defense Daily, Aug. 29).
Separately, the Navy highlighted that two helicopters squadron detachments consisting of six Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawks made 227 rescues on their first day. Originally based in Fort Worth, Texas, the detachment moved their staging area to Easterwood Airport to be closer to the disaster zone. This includes 112 sailors from of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadrons HSC-7 and HSC-28.
The MH-60S helicopters have an onboard rescue hoist and an average of three hours of fuel to help rescue efforts. Sikorsky is a Lockheed Martin [LMT] business.
The effort is similar to when a task force was set up to help in the recovery after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Then the Defense Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency operated Joint Task Force Katrina which included the Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group.
This consisted of the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) amphibious assault ship, USS Shreveport (LPD-12) amphibious transport dock, USS Tortuga (LSD-46) dock landing ship, and USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) fast combat support ship.